Leprosy is a common malady, as well as numerous other diseases of the
skin. All of which doubtless arises from the filthy habits of the
people. Doby itch is very common. It is a very bad skin disease, and
hard to cure when it gets a firm hold, and will have fatal results in a
few years in that warm climate. One doctor said that it would require
three or four years' careful treatment to cure an acute case of doby
itch in another climate.

Almost every day I saw a bad case of it. The legs will become swollen,
and large knots and tumors cover them until walking is extremely
painful. It is easy to contract doby itch. About two weeks after I
reached Manila the first time, I discovered a small sore spot on my leg,
which looked like ringworm. I was informed that it was doby itch, and
that I should have it doctored before it spread. I began to treat it,
and it itched seemingly to the bone, and began to scatter. I would wake
at night scratching and clawing the itching spot, and lie awake for two
and three hours. I had to trim my finger nails closely to keep from
ruining my leg scratching it. It continued this way for several days
before I checked it. Many of our soldiers had a similar experience,
some of them much worse than mine. I guarded against it afterward, using
all the precaution I could to avoid it. A friend of mine who enlisted
when I did, caught a severe case of the doby itch which kept him in an
almost helpless condition for eight months. He was finally discharged
for disability, a wreck for life, without anything but a small pension
of about eight dollars per month.

To the Morros again. There is a class whose religious teaching is that
when one of them kills seven white men he will go to a better country
when he dies. He thus makes sure of his entrance to what is heaven in
their religious belief.

The Americans soon learned to distinguish one of this class, and watched
them very closely. One of them will not wait for much of a chance to
kill a white man, but will make his chance to do his deadly work. I have
seen a great many of them, and know that they attempted to kill our men
on duty as out-posts. They would not have any guns and would go to the
walls of the fort and try to scale them to get to the Americans and kill
them with bolos. Without trying to kill them the soldiers would shoot
towards them to drive them away. When one of their number dies the grave
is dug one day and early the following morning the